Customer Reviews

The Queen [Music from the Motion Picture]

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

In a modern film about a modern queen it is only appropriate that Desplat does not give us the majestic score that would be present in a historical film. Instead, he is able to mimick Mirren's portray of Her Majesty with humor, grace, and tradition. The inclusion of Verdi's "Libera Me" is understandable and even more fitting as the closing track. The entire CD is a complement to the film and a compliment to the Queen herself.

Alexandre Desplat is among one of the least known and if I may say, underrated composers in Hollywood. With his score for "The Queen" he flourishes and brings a new realm to the story of Helen Mirren's fantastic performance.

The opening track "The Queen" begins very low then rises up into a majestic theme with brass horns then quiets down into a sweet melody of violins and harps. The opening track is essentially a preview of what the album is about, subdued yet rich melodies.

In "The People's Princess I," we hear a very prominent harpsichord playing away as drums, harps, violins, violas, and cellos all join in . . . this track sounds awfully a lot like a chase scene on its own. However, the melodies with the harps and the violas above the quiet bass heavy instruments, "THe People's Princess I" is among one of the most unique tracks on this album.

The album closes with a lament, "Libera Me." While not being rather a big fan of Verdi, I find this track to be very rich and aptly closes this album as it was sung during the funeral of Princess Diana of Wales.

Alexandre Desplat delivers a truly unique score to a majestic and magnificent film. Although much of this music is very quiet and almost to the point of being background music, his rich melodies and varied themes in these tracks bring a new dimension to the world of "The Queen."

Hopefully we'll hear a lot in the future of Alexandre Desplat, because he's a very nice new colour in the realm of film music. His score for the Queen is majestic, sophisticated and haunting, beautiful, moving and elevating. It deserves all appreciation and is well worth listening to on and on again. Bravo maestro, I highly recommend it to all.

This music is haunting, beautiful and slightly mocking in its bittersweet tones. When I heard director Steve Frears say in interview that the music was 'Hitchcockian', I could not have agreed more. It has some truly sunny moments that reminded me of "Psycho" and "Rope". Most moving is the music set to the chase and ultimate 'accident' of then-Princess Diana, haunting music complete with the sound of implied traffic, claxons and a chilling harpsicord accompaniment that 'suggests' the Queen may have 'ordered' Diana's death. Yet the piece I find most moving is what I call "Her Majesty's Theme", the haunting overture, to which the film opens. Beautiful to relax to and enjoy anytime, this is one CD you'll never regret or get tired of hearing.

I saw the movie 4 times, and realized that I liked the music even better than the film! This is one of my favorite CD's and I listen to it all the time!

Alexandre Desplat's minimalist score fitly accompanies the taut psychological drama that is THE QUEEN. This 2007 motion picture imaginatively chronicles the tectonic shifts that were occurring in the royal family behind closed doors in the wake of Diana's tragic death in a Paris highway tunnel. Alternately brooding and winsome, Desplat produces a soundtrack that underscores Queen Elizabeth II's rather heroic change of mind regarding her family's role vis-à-vis 'the people'.

The people were in the streets, not exactly manning the barricades but rather shedding tears that astonished themselves and challenged the stern facades of Buckingham and Balmoral. Desplat's music is almost spritely, as though hinting at a lightness of heart that would see the Queen through.

The London Symphony Orchestra manages its task exquisitely. No one--neither composer nor ensemble--overpowers the dramatic screen images. Rather, they suggest, they illuminate, they hint at matters of the heart, as soundtracks and their performers are meant to do.

This is not likely music you'll be playing for your grandchildren, obliging them to feel what *you* felt back then. Yet it *is* music perfectly adapted to its place. The staccato keyboard and the bubbling clarinet of track three ('People's Princess I') hint that such restraint will be the order of the day throughout. What follows does not disappoint.

Fine writing, in a genre that is meant always to play a subdominant role, behind the curtain, off in the wings, subtly from the margins.

Fitting, at moments, for a queen.

I enjoyed the film, "The Queen" a great deal and so decided to purchase the soundtrack, and I wasn't disappointed. I like the meditative, almost mournful tone of some of the soundtracks, but then others have a certain lightness and sense of humor to them, such as the songs entitled "Tony & Elizabeth" or "Elizabeth & Tony." The music conveys the almost mystified confusion The Queen finds herself feeling at times, but, in the end, there is a feeling of overriding sympathy for her, for the beautiful stag she spots while on her grounds in Scotland and, really, for any of us who have been dismayed or unsettled by our lives at times. Of course, there is also a majestic pride that pervades the whole soundtrack and lends it its moody, powerful textures. I return to Alexandra Desplat over and over again for his sensitive, romantic, but then also probing and, at times, wistful soundtracks.

Revisiting THE QUEEN increases the power of the film's subtle portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II by Helen Mirren, further informs the viewer of the fine quality of performance by Michael Sheen as Tony Blair and Helen McCrory as his wife Cherie, and allows an even deeper appreciation for the fine musical score by the always dependable Alexandre Desplat.

Desplat captures the atmosphere of the year 1997 when Princess Diana's death shook the world and altered the history of the royal family. His music is aptly suitable for the stuffy feeling of Balmoral Castle while his liquid themes underline the beauty of Scotland, the tension within the castle, and the responses of the people. And while Desplat's score stands solidly on its own with the many themes included on this CD, he also has the sensitivity to close the recording with the hauntingly beautiful singing by soprano Lynne Dawson and the BBC Symphony Chorus in the Verdi Requiem movement, 'Libera me'. It is as well performed as any version on record and is a meltingly lyrical and somber way to conclude the CD. A very fine Soundtrack to add to anyone's collection. Grady Harp, February 07

If you like Nicola Piovani music composed for the great screen, this is a CD for you.....otherwise you will find the London Symphony Orchestra at the top. I have not seen the movie yet, but I am sure the score match fine in the british world.

I liked seeing the human side of the royals. I think we all look for that everytime we see them. Getting ready for bed, watching tv, liking to take walks. Wanting to drive the jeep herself, then calling herself "stupid and foolish" when she gets stuck in the river.

I thought it was particularly poignant when she saw the stag and found him so beautiful, and shooed him off as she heard the hunters approach. Then was so personally taken aback when she found out he'd been killed and insisted on going to to see him. Her need to touch him...broke my heart. It felt to me like an interesting irony that she wasn't saddened by Diana's death, but was stricken by the death of this deer. By the loss of beauty and freedom, which was what Diana was as well.

There were only hints of her past here and there, and I was really hoping for more in depth of her life and how she came to be the person she is. That was my only disappointment.